Putting on the Final Polish @Susan Oleksiw: Advice for Authors

HALLIE EPHRON: I often to go to author book launches, and it can be painful to watch an author speaking for what seems like the first time about his or her work, read haltingly, go on for far too long... So not hitting a home run.

So when I saw author Susan Oleksiw's (FOR LOVE OF PARVATI, an Anita Ray Mystery) thoughts about it on Author Expressions I thought YES!  Great advice for authors who want to present themselves with final polish.

I invited her on Jungle Red to share her thoughts. Here's Susan's advice on how to look like a pro.

SUSAN OLEKSIW: When I read my first scholarly paper to a
room of academics (there were barely a dozen seated among the rows of chairs but it felt like hundreds), I learned to my dismay that I was terrified of speaking in public. I held my six pages in my hand and stood at the podium trembling, my voice faltering, for at least twelve minutes before my terror evaporated and I sounded just like anyone else. Unfortunately, I was allotted ten minutes maximum to read my paper. 

 

This was the beginning of learning the last and often most important lessons of the professional writer. After we finish writing the mystery novel, negotiate with a publisher, and survive the first reviews, we have still one lesson to learn--how to be a professional writer in the eye of the public.

1. PLAN! PRACTICE! Learn to read your book aloud

First, we will be asked to give talks or appear on panels and read a few paragraphs of our work. We have listened to the words in our head for months, perhaps years, but we may have never heard them read aloud. If you are going to make any public appearances, learn to read your book aloud.

When I am asked to read, I choose a passage from my most current work and read it aloud several times, both for timing and cadence. And I do mean aloud. I stand in the middle of the living room and read loud enough to project across the room, through the hall, and into the kitchen. I read the passage aloud at least three times. You can't count on having a microphone.

I also choose a passage that contains some suspense but doesn't give away anything important about the plot. I can adapt a longer passage by eliminating one or two paragraphs or a few sentences to bring together what I think are the most captivating scenes. I mark these in one copy of the book that I use for all appearances.

I never assume I will know what to read when I show up for the event. I always practice in advance. No one wants to hear me mumble, stumble, or mutter about skipping a few words. And no one wants to watch me flip through pages wondering where I should go next.

If I read typed pages, I make sure to dog-ear the top right-hand corners to make it easy to turn the page. No one wants to watch me lick my fingers to get a grip on the page to separate it from the ones that follow.

2. Project an image: Hire a pro to take your picture
Second, have a photographer (professional or amateur) take a good photograph of you, with or without makeup. If you think you'll use this photograph for book covers, publicity mailings, and more, find a professional who will provide the makeup artist if you need help with this. Make sure you have the rights to use the photographs however you want. Be sure to get the correct attribution for publication.

3. What to wear?
Third, consider the wardrobe you have and what you will wear to panels and conferences. You don't have to buy anything expensive, but you may want to rethink your favorite pair of jeans or sweats. If you write a series set in India, as I do, you might want to wear khurtas in warmer weather, or a nice Indian shawl in winter. If you write westerns, consider a nice pair of red cowboy boots. The idea is to have a wardrobe that is a step up from your ordinary day wear or one that illustrates your interests as a writer. Dressing reasonably well is a sign of respect for your audience.

4. Business cards!
Fourth, design and order a simple business card. The fancier the card, the more likely you will have to redesign it as your tastes and publications change. Keep a supply of cards in your purse and hand them out whenever you have to make a note or give contact information.

These lessons for polishing an image may seem obvious, but I like many others never knew how hard it would be to read six typed pages to a group of strangers. I learned. And I remind myself whenever I stand in front of an audience that these people whom I've never met came to listen to me and they want me to succeed. That will take you far in getting over the jitters and making a solid presentation and a good impression.

HALLIE: What advice would you give authors preparing to talk about their books? What works, what doesn't... and how long should we go on before it's too long?

About For the Love of Parvati 

Anita travels with her Auntie Meena to visit family. As they approach their destination, they are stopped at a temporary checkpoint, where a sharpshooter tracks them. Later, during a break in the monsoon, Anita discovers the corpse of a man in a flooded stream. The police imply this is the criminal they were searching for but Anita isn't so sure. A servant has gone missing, the son of the household is in trouble with his employers, and someone is stalking the household.

About Susan Oleksiw

Susan Oleksiw writes the Anita Ray series (For the Love of Parvati, 2014) and the Mellingham series featuring Chief of Police Joe Silva (Last Call for Justice, 2012). Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and numerous anthologies. Susan compiled A Reader's Guide to the Classic British Mystery (G.K. Hall, 1988), and co-edited The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing (1999). She was a co-founder of Level Best Books.

On India

JAN: I met Susan Oleksiw when she was the co-founder and editor The Larcom Press, which published The Larcom Review and several mysteries - including my first novel, Final Copy. But before she was a (terrific) editor, she was a mystery author. The Mellingham Mystery series, featuring Chief of Police Joe Silva, which first appeared in 1993 and continued until 2006. And before that, she was the author of a A Reader’s Guide to the Classic British Mystery (1988), a reference guide so beloved that people still show up at conferences with copies of it for her to sign.

She is also the co-founder of Level Best Books, an annual anthology of crime fiction by New England writers.

But if all that doesn't impress you. How about this? She is a scholar of Sanskrit. And she uses her passion for India in a new series, featuring sleuth Anita Ray, who appeared in a few of her short stories published in Alfred Hitchcock and Level Best anthologies. The first novel in the series is Under the Eye of Kali.

I don't know too many scholars of Sanskrit? So my first question for Susan is: How did that happen?

SUSAN: India has been the great love of my life since I was a young girl and someone gave me a book of fairy tales from Asia. I wasn’t one for mythology or most children’s fiction, but I loved that book of Asian stories. As I went through school I was fortunate to have teachers who were knowledgeable about Asia and they nurtured my interest. And then I went off to graduate school and discovered an even bigger world. I fell in love with Sanskrit the first week.

JAN: How did that translate into the new series?

SUSAN: I knew I was not going to be able to spend as much time in India as I wanted, so I did the next best thing—I wrote about it. When I begin an Anita Ray story or novel, I tend to eat a lot of Indian food, read work by Indian writers, listen to Indian music. I pull out photographs from India—mine and others—and get back into the place I love.

JAN: Tell us a little more bit about Anita Ray. What is she like?

SUSAN: Anita Ray is the daughter of an Indian mother and an Irish American father. She has a dual perspective and comments on things that would be obvious to an India. She is very much of her Indian culture—she is a Nayar, and although she enjoys tweaking her relatives, she is careful to abide by most of the rules.

But she also has a lot of the independent attitudes of the typical American young woman, and these are actually becoming more and more common among some westernized groups in India.

JAN: How and why did you choose her to be the sleuth? Do the two of you share any traits or history?

SUSAN: Anita is the woman I wish I could have been—free as the breeze, seemingly untethered to anyone or anything, with all the world before her. She has no desire to be a responsible adult and does her best to avoid moving in that direction. This is what drives her relatives nuts. And wouldn’t we all, at some time, like to be free of the duties and obligations and responsibilities that fill our day?

JAN: I sure would!! Tell us little bit about Kovalam, the Indian tourist town you chose for the setting? What drew you here?

SUSAN: When I first lived in India, in 1976, there was one luxury hotel on the beach, recently opened, and never full. The foreigners found it eventually, and the developers followed. In the years since then, the beach has sprouted something of a small Indian town.

The area has enough variety in people, lodgings, lanes, to provide lots of challenges to Anita.

But I’ve also given her lots of relatives—a large family spread all over India and the rest of the world. She will have many opportunities to get into trouble and trip over murders.

JAN: I know you also work full time, how do you juggle writing and work?

SUSAN: When I begin a book I write every day. It doesn’t have to be much—part of a scene or an entire short scene—but I have to work every day. I am still employed as the executive director of a small social service agency in Gloucester, MA, so I write in the evening after I get home from work. An hour or two is usually enough, and at some point I’ll take a couple of days off to reread the entire mss and decide on the major areas of reworking.

I’ve recently adopted another technique to help me move along. At the end of each day I note the date, words written, and comments on the scene and ideas for future scenes (the murderer’s shoelace should show up in chapter 7, for example).

When I’m writing, my mind is just full of small details and on some evenings after work I empty my purse of half a dozen small slips of paper listing ideas I’ve had while sitting in a meeting or heading for the supermarket.

One of the things I try to tell people when they ask me about getting into writing is that writing is work. When I describe the process and everything I have to do, even after I’ve sold the mss to a publisher, I listen to myself and wonder why anyone would do this if they didn’t have to. But I always have ideas for the next book before I’ve finished the one I’m working on. I don’t think I’ll ever run out of ideas or the urge to turn them into stories and novels.

My final words on my deathbed will be, “Oh, just let me finish this scene.”

To learn more about Susan, India, or her books, check out her website at:

http://www.susanoleksiw.com/